For those of you who like getting out of bed at 3AM (you know who you are), there is a bright comet to look at once you shake off the sandman.

It's been so long since I've done any astronomy to speak of that I feel incredibly awkward out in the field. My awkwardness is compounded by the fact that C2009 R1 (McNaught) is low and the Moon and Sun intrude rapidly. Hopefully I'll get some proficiency back following this comet.

Sketch was done in the field using a 2B pencil and a stump. Inverted and the background adjusted during processing to recreate the skyglow.

It's a nice comet--have a go at it. The next week will be good for observing it.

Attached Files

that comet looks really good,I like your sketch very much. Your telescop has a similar aperture like mine ,so your sketch gives me a good idea what I will see.Maybe I find another day to get out of bed early ,like I did at my observing of Jupiter last weekend.

Thanks, everyone. The comet is getting bright pretty fast--I've read several reports from European observers who can see it naked eye now. It helps if you have a low horizon to the NE so you can see it early while it's still dark and there is no moon. Apparently one can see the tail (~1° long) if it's dark enough even if the comet is low. I have to wait for the comet to rise above the 3600 foot mountain (~1200 meters) that is a mile to my NE.

Very nice sketch of Comet McNaught C2009 R1 You've inspired me to get up as soon as the clouds and rain recede in Portland.

I just looked at the Spaceweather.com info, also linking to a good map from S & T

Others might note the 2nd photo of two taken by a lady, Monika in Hungary as it is a good guide which shows the Andromeda galaxy in the upper right- The comet appears as what would be expected at almost naked eye by now *very low in the same photo. > http://www.spaceweat..._1275885456.jpg

Also note others sketches and photographs in todays Spaceweather - One image shows the comet with the edge-on galaxy NGC 891.

Thanks for the compliments, everyone. I hope you get a chance to see the comet--the next few days will have no moon.

Mark, thanks for the links. The widefield shot with M31 is nice and if you magnify the first image you can see the ion tail--pretty good for a snapshot. The bright star nearby is gamma Andromedae (Almach). There is also a sketch posted on the Spaceweather site made with a 20 inch scope. (!)

Tom Polakis posted this image in the SSI forum made not long after my sketch but 2 time zones to the west. The only stars visible to me due to twilight/moonlight can be seen in Tom's image. The dim one is between the comet coma and NGC 891. The brighter one is just below it. You can see the elongation of the coma (the dust tail). Of course, I saw no sign of the ion tail or of NGC 891.

It was very nice to see more sketches of R1 McNaught posted by Paul and Marcus. I managed to get in another observation this morning. I was struck by how the comet looked as it came up, especially with the contrast between the sky and the dark silhouette of the mountain, so I tried to render the view.

The sketch was done in the field on white paper with a 2B pencil and inverted. I outlined the mountaintop as I placed the starfield. During processing, I brightened the sky a little bit to reproduce the view and painted in the black mountain. I also gave the coma a slight blue-green tinge. I hope you like it.

Attached Files

Plan AInspired by all those beautiful sketches of McNaught, I took my chance this morning. After a (short) night of DSO my plan was to see the for the first time in my life a comettail. But... Perseus was just behind a big tree and impossible to see with a telescope from my garden. With only 4 hours to go before my wake-up cale, I didn't have the courage to wait another hour.

Plan BSo I took my bino and observed the comet from the attic.The hand held bino (7x50) didn't show the tail but I was rather impressed how easy McNaught was visible, even so low in the sky (only 14° alt). The smalest star visible (right of 48 Persei) was mag. 6.8.In my sketch McNaught is almost between mu and 48 Persei. In the sketch of Michael (some hours later) you see the comet has moved on.

Jef, I hope so, too. It's getting tougher and tougher to see detail with the comet heading in towards the Sun so low and dawn breaking so early.

I made this sketch to show the comet's movement but almost didn't pull it off because those two 9th magnitude stars in the middle of the FOV that I used as reference points vanished in the morning skyglow. Luckily, 30 minutes was enough to detect movement to the east.

The sketch was done in the field on white sketch paper with a 2B pencil and stump and inverted. I didn't detect any color in the coma.

I made another observation and sketch this morning, June 19th. I wanted to see if I could see the ion tail again, so I went with my big binoculars (high magnification sometimes makes faint, extended objects disappear).

I had to make the sketch as soon as the comet rose, so I included the mountain again. Perhaps because of the low altitude, the stars and coma were colorful, so I added color digitally. I also inverted the original pencil sketch on white paper and manipulated the contrast to simulate the slight glow of early dawn in the sky.